Clamour grows for Bharat Ratna for Dhyan Chand, Kanshi Ram

New Delhi: As speculation swirled that former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose may be named for Bharat Ratna, there was a clamour for Dhyan Chand, Kanshi Ram and Bhagat Singh to be also considered for the country's highest civilian award.

The former union minister also recalled litigations in early 1990s over conferring the highest civilian award.

Another Congress leader Rashid Alvi said besides Bose, Kanshi Ram, who was BSP founder, and Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) founder Sir Syed Ahmed Khan should get the honour.

He, however, said that the award should be announced only after the upcoming Assembly elections in four states, including Maharashtra and Haryana, to avoid any politics.

Alvi said that he was writing a letter on the issue to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Former Allahabad High Court judge Justice Giridhar Malaviya, the grand-son of Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya, while reacting to reports that the name of Banaras Hindu University (BHU) founder is also doing the rounds said he was one person who had made contribution in "so many fields." Madan Mohan Malaviya had also helped establish the Hindu Mahasabha.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had paid floral tributes to Madan Mohan Malaviya's statue in Varanasi before filing his nomination papers in the holy town for the Lok Sabha polls. Giridhar Malviya was among those who proposed Modi's nomination.

Ashok Kumar, son of Dhyan Chand, hoped that the hockey legend will be also considered for Bharat Ratna.

Known as 'The Wizard', Dhyan Chand is widely considered as the greatest field hockey player of all time.

Many are of the view that Dhyan Chand should have been the first sportsperson to have been conferred the Bharat Ratna and should have been bestowed the honour ahead of cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar.

SP leader Naresh Agarwal said socialist leader Ram Manohar Lohia should be also considered for the honour.

Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha MP Sukhendu Sekhar Roy today said that declassification of documents related to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose's disappearance would be a "true" honour for the national leader instead of conferring the Bharat Ratna.

"Don't belittle Netaji... He (Netaji) cannot be bracketed with others... Netaji left his home, left the country, organised a huge army outside the country, and established diplomatic relations with many countries for the cause of the country. He never fought for any medals, not for the Bharat Ratna," Roy said over phone from New Delhi.

"Freedom fighters laid down their lives for the country but not for any medals," the MP added.

"I sincerely hope that the government will not take such a decision to confer Bharat Ratna on Netaji. But if the government goes ahead with it then it would be a disrespect to Netaji," Roy stated.

"But if they sincerely want to honour Netaji they should declassify the files related to the great leader's disappearance. That would be a true honour for Subhas Chandra Bose not the Bharat Ratna," Roy stated.

"But if at all the government decides to confer the award on Netaji our party will decide the next step regarding the issue," he added.